In August 2011, when Diana Wang began her seventh unpaid internship, this time at Harper’s Bazaar, the legendary high-end fashion magazine, she figured that her previous six internships – at a modeling agency, a PR firm, a jewelry designer, a magazine, an art gallery and a state governor’s office – had prepared her for the demands of New York’s fashion world.

“I was so determined to make this one really worth my while,” says the 28-year-old Wang, who moved from Columbus, Ohio, to New York, where she was living with her boyfriend (also working as an unpaid intern at one point) and living off of her savings. “I knew I couldn’t do anymore internships after this.”

As it turned out, Wang’s internship was just like many of the thousands of others: unrewarding in terms of both pay and marketable experience — not to mention the lack of a job offer. In fact, the only difference between her internship and most others was what happened about a month after it ended. Wang sued.

yeah I saw that. it's not really based on any real data. like yeah, 'it happens'. but the overwhelming number of white ppl who left nyc over the last decade were archie bunker outer borough types, as you can see by looking at it by neighborhood: http://www.urbanresearchmaps.org/plurality/

hip new yorkers moving to kansas city would make a good quiddities article, but there's not a lot of evidence that it happens enough to 'be a thing'. and the cleveland renaissance - it's downtown doubling in population over the last 20 years - well, that's 4500 people. which is great, and I'd imagine the number would be even higher if it weren't for the various constraints to downtown cleveland living - but 4500 people is a drop in the bucket even as far as the cleveland metro population goes.

“I’m practical,” she says. “I’m not going to work at a non-profit for my entire life; I know that’s not possible. I’m realistic about the things that I need for a lifestyle that I’ve become accustomed to.” Though she admits she’s at least partially worried of ending up at the bank “longer than [she] sees [her]self there now,” at present she sees it as a “hugely stimulating and educational” way to spend the next few years.

I think she does capture something, though, about the extent to which a certain kind of ivy student is on a kind of conveyor belt in life. Lifelong non-autonomy combined with desperate need for affirmation combined with expectation of material comfort = path of least resistance. Someone e-mails you about a "prestigious" job in your second year of school, you say yes in spite of your vague notions of doing something more "meaningful." And you don't just do it, you rationalize it.

i have found that while it's important to feel occupationally fulfilled in some regard (i have continued to write despite having an unrelated day job), there are so many other areas of life that are important too. is it better to be happy at work and then go home and cry about bills piling up and debt and getting into fights with your significant other about money, and struggling to pay rent, or better to maybe feel unfulfilled at work and then have all that other stuff a little bit worked out? i mean, the choice is not an exact binary. even at uninspiring jobs you can find things to be proud about and ways to deploy your specific talents + skills in a satisfying way. and obv there are those that figure out how to live doing their dream jobs (even if that means cutting back in other areas). it's not just about luxury tho. maybe you want to start a family and now you need to move into a bigger place, buy diapers, pay for childcare, etc. it's not just the path of least resistance. sometimes you shuffle your priorities.

(nb i use the second person a lot here but i think it's obv that i'm talking a large bit about my own experiences...)

I think that's all reasonable. I'm someone who very much based my job decision on a balance of salary, time to see family and opportunity for advancement rather than what I would find most interesting or meaningful (although it's not completely bereft of interest). But I don't think that's how Yale grads are deciding their jobs. I think it's more "here's an easy way I can get a job without having to really go out and compete, and I will continue to be told I'm special and get paid handsomely"

KATHRIN 3 days agoThis is interesting and well written. Find yourself a grad student in Math and you’ve got your job. I want more articles of a “pop math” variety exploring the numbers of everyday life. Not only are they interesting and engaging, these types of stories provide the groundwork for helping “us” (entrepreneurs) know what industries we should be attacking.

the problem w/ the articles like this is that they don't highlight the credentials inflation that's been going on. that's not the whole story, a lot of jobs do require more education ie the types in that manufacturing article, forget what thread that was. but 'you need a BA to get a retail/sales/caretaker job' doesn't really highlight the benefits of education, it highlights the benefits of having jumped over the BA bar in a period of 8% unemployment + continually increasing educational attainment %s.

two pages later they counter w/ the stat that on a national level people w/ BAs make more than people w/ the same job and lower education = higher value than employers are willing to pay for. but that logic doesn't square w/ 'across all occupations, more educated workers are being hired'.